Spiders II: Breeding Ground

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All Rise...

The Charge

A new breed of terror.

The Case

DVD box synopsis of Spiders II: Breeding Ground:When Jason
and Alexandra are rescued from their sinking boat by Dr. Grbac and his floating
medical lab, Jason insists there is more to the charming doctor than meets the
eye. Suspicious, Jason starts snooping around the cargo boat and finds dead
bodies stashed in a freezer vault. He tells Alexandra of his morbid finding but
the bodies suddenly disappear. When Jason violently insists the doctor is up to
something, she becomes convinced that he has lost his mind and he is sent to the
ship's infirmary. As the doctor administers Jason an unknown shot, he sees a two
foot spider split through the chest of another women in the lab…

Judge Naugle's translation:When a couple of no name actors are
rescued from their sinking vessel (budget cost: $13.76) by Dr.
I-Gotta-A-Really-Weird-Name and his floating med lab (budget cost: $23.45),
Jason insists there is more to the charming doctor than meets the eye, if only
because the movie needs to have more of a plotline than just killer spiders.
Suspicious, Jason starts snooping around the cheesy sets and props and finds
dead bodies (AKA desperate actors who need résumé filler) stashed in a
freezer vault. He tells Alexandra (an actress who will never put this film on
her résumé) of his morbid findings but the bodies suddenly disappear
(no, that doesn't mean this will turn into a far better George Romero zombie
film). When Jason violently (acting classes: $50.00) insists the doctor is up to
something, she becomes convinced that he has lost his mind ("Hey look ma, I
can play nutty!") and he is sent to the ship's infirmary, which looks
suspiciously like a place where genetically alerted spiders are created. As the
doctor administers Jason an unknown shot, he sees a cheaply created two foot CGI
spider split through the chest of another woman (not as bad as child birth, but
it still sucks) in the lab…and don't you think sentences that drop off are
really dramatic?

I will risk all credibility as a film reviewer by admitting I was excited at
the prospect of seeing Spiders II: Breeding Ground. I enjoyed the
original Spiders campy set-up, cheesy
effects, and goofy performances so much that I really wanted to see the second
film. After watching the sequels Piranha II: The
Spawning and Python II, I should have
known better: Spiders II is a rather boring, lifeless film that captures
none of the original's accidental charm. While it's always a pleasure to see the
lumbering presence of Richard Moll (House, Bull from TV's Night Court) on
screen, he just can't overcome the bad story, bad dialogue, and bad effects.
Spiders II seems to cobble together various elements of other movies,
which makes it feel like a combination of Virus, Eight Legged Freaks, and Ghost Ship. All of those movies are far
better than this one. I don't think anyone will be surprised when I say that the
acting borders on amateurish and the effects appear to have been created on an
iMac by a 15-year old geek. If that wasn't bad enough, there's even a shot of a
spider walking on a miniature model of one of the sets! Didn't that
effect go out of style after the 1950s classic Tarantula? Greg Cromer and
Stephanie Niznik are bland as the lead couple who spend most of the film
shouting at each other to get out of the way as they dodge the various
eight-legged carnivores. There are supporting characters, but who cares? They
were hired on to become spider food, and they do their job accordingly. Horror
fans will be happy to hear that there are some gross effects in the mix (I
especially found a scene where a spider lays her egg in a man's chest yucky),
but they don't make the film rise above its mediocrity. I don't want to give the
impression that Spiders II is the worst B-movie ever made (no, that award
goes to my favorite bastard child Battlefield Earth), but it's also by
far from good. For hardcore arachnophobia fans only.

Spiders II: Breeding Ground is presented in a fine looking 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen transfer. For a film of such a considerably small budget,
this transfer appears to be in very good shape. Though there are a few
imperfections in the image (night scenes seem especially dark with some grain in
the image), overall fans will be happy at the way this disc looks. The
soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English. Though this
track isn't overly bombastic, there are some nice effects and surround sounds to
be found in the mix. All aspects of the track are free of any excessive hiss,
distortion, or cob webs. Also included on this disc are English and Spanish
subtitles.

Fittingly, Spiders II: Breeding Ground is void of almost all
substantial extra features. The only supplements available on this disc are
three trailers for the Lions Gate DVDs Crocodile 2 (another cruddy
sequel), the Bill Paxton horror film Frailty, and Spiders II (with
terrible voiceover work by the narrator).